(Abbr. IN or Ind.)For more information on Indiana, visit Britannica.com.
| Indiana County, Pennsylvania, Indian River County, Florida | |
| Ingham County, Michigan, Inyo County, California |
Indiana, often called "the crossroads of America," was a center of commerce even before the arrival of European explorers in the 1670s. Bounded on the north by Lake Michigan and on the south by the Ohio River, the state's several important rivers and portages made it a strategic military location as well. The dominant Indian tribe in the region, the Miamis, lived throughout the state from the early 1600s. They were joined by bands of Shawnee and Delaware Indians in the southern part of the state and by groups of Delaware, Potawatomi, Piankashaw, and Wea in the north. By 1700, the Miamis had settled in several villages throughout the region, including large villages at Kekionga (present-day Fort Wayne), Ouiatanon (near present-day Lafayette), Vincennes, and Vermillion. In 1679, led by the French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, the first Europeans reached the region. Eager to establish outposts for the fur trade, the French laid claim to the area and erected military forts at Kekionga (known as Fort Miami, possibly as early as the late 1680s and permanently after 1704), Ouiatanon (1719), and Vincennes (1732). Although they had survived primarily as an agricultural people, the tribes eagerly entered into the fur trade, especially after epidemics from smallpox, measles, and other diseases decimated their numbers and made farming more difficult. By the 1750s, only about 2,000 Indians of various tribes survived in the region.
During the French and Indian War, French claims over the territory were ceded to the British, a concession ratified by the Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1763. British rule over the region was brief, however. In 1778 and 1779, during the American Revolution, forces led by George Rogers Clark controlled the area after capturing Vincennes. After the Revolution, the United States took possession of the land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River in another Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783. The United States reorganized the region under the Ordinance of 1787, recognizing it as the Northwest Territory the following year. In July 1800, the region was divided into an eastern section that later became the state of Ohio and a western section that extended to the Mississippi River on the west and up to Canada in the north. Known as the Indiana Territory, a name that reflected it as "the land of the Indians," the territory later was divided even further to create the Michigan Territory (January 1805) and the Illinois Territory (February 1809). Thus, by 1809, the boundaries of present-day Indiana were secure.
Beginning with the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, which ceded a portion of eastern Indiana to the United States, federal authorities gradually purchased land from various Indian tribes through the 1830s. The governor of the territory, William Henry Harrison, signed the Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809 with the Delawares, Potawatomis, and Miamis, adding the southern third of the territory to federal reserves; other agreements, including the Treaty of St. Mary's (1818) and the Treaty of Wabash (1826), completed the transfer of land from Indian hands. In the meantime, however, major conflicts occurred, most notably with Harrison's victory over Indian forces led by Tenskwatawa (also known as the Prophet) at Tippecanoe in 1811. During the War of 1812, British and Indian forces combined to fight American troops throughout the territory. The last major battle was between Miami and American forces and took place on the Mississinewa River on 17 and 18 December 1812; the battle concluded with the Miamis' defeat.
Early Statehood
With the opening of U.S. land offices at Vincennes (1804), Jeffersonville (1807), Terre Haute (1817), and Brookville (1819), almost 2.5 million acres of Indiana land were sold to speculators and settlers through 1820. Later, additional offices opened at Fort Wayne (1822), Craw-fordsville (1823), and La Porte (1833). With the territory's population reaching 24,520 in 1810, agitation for state-hood gained momentum, and on 11 December 1816, Indiana was admitted to the Union as the nineteenth state. The location of its first capital, Corydon, in south-central Indiana reflected the fact that the overwhelming majority of the state's population resided close to its border with the Ohio River. On 7 June 1820, the capital was relocated to Indianapolis, a site chosen for its location in the geographical center of the state.
In its first decade as a state, Indiana's population surged as migrants from the Carolinas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia bought newly opened federal lands; later, arrivals from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York joined them. Although slavery was prohibited by the 1816 state constitution, other legal restrictions kept some African Americans from settling in Indiana. By 1830, just over 1 percent of the state's 343,031 inhabitants was African American, a figure that remained steady until well after the Civil War. A surge in the number of foreign-born immigrants, particularly German-speaking arrivals to central and southern Indiana, contributed to well over 5 percent of the state's population after 1850.
With land well suited to farming and raising livestock throughout the state, most of the newcomers settled into agricultural pursuits. Early attempts at industrial concerns included furniture making, farm implement production, and food processing. However, small-town life characterized Indiana throughout the nineteenth century; even up to 1850, the state's largest city, the Ohio River town of New Albany, held no more than 8,181 residents. While the towns of Indiana remained important trading centers for commercial farmers, the state's cultural fabric was constructed by thousands of small family farms. At the end of the antebellum era, more than 91 percent of Indiana residents lived in rural areas. From the predominance of its small-town character, the appellation "Hoosier" was affectionately bestowed upon Indiana's residents from the 1820s onward. Although many folkloric explanations have been given for the term, one of the most likely is that it came from the employment of Indiana canal workers by the Kentucky contractor Samuel Hoosier. The workers became known as "Hoosiers," and the name soon became generalized to describe all Indianians.
Although only a few minor engagements of the Civil War touched Indiana soil, the state's unity was tested by its commitment to the Union's cause. With so many recent migrants from southern states, support for the Confederacy ran high during the conflict's early days. However, a majority of residents—especially antislavery Quaker migrants from the Carolinas who came to the state in the 1810s and 1820s—eventually made the state a stalwart supporter of the Union. After the war, political allegiance shifted back once again, and the state remained roughly divided between the Democratic and Republican parties, a trait it retained through succeeding generations.
While Indiana engaged in the internal improvement craze of the 1840s with heavy state investment in canal building, the state's geographic importance between the agricultural centers of the Midwest and the markets of the East became more apparent after the Civil War. While the Ohio River trade favored the growth of Evansville and New Albany in the first half of the nineteenth century, railroads covered central and northern Indiana by the 1880s. Indianapolis and Terre Haute ranked as major rail centers. The latter city witnessed the formation of the American Railway Union by Eugene V. Debs in 1893, one of the first labor unions of industrial workers in the United States. Rail traffic also spurred commercial and manufacturing growth throughout the state. In 1852, the Studebaker brothers founded a blacksmith shop that made South Bend the site of the largest wagon works after the Civil War; the company would produce automobiles under the Studebaker name in the northern Indiana city until 1963. Another city, Muncie, gained fame as the site of the Ball Brothers Company; relocated to Indiana from New York in 1886, the factory immediately became the leading producer of glass jars and canning instruments in the United States. The most dramatic urban development, however, occurred in the northwestern corner of the state. Founded and built largely to serve the U.S. Steel Corporation's mills, the city of Gary grew from its inception in 1907 to have over 100,000 residents by 1940. The refineries of the Standard Oil Company in Whiting, opened in 1889, along with numerous other major steel and metal works throughout the area made northwest Indiana's Calumet region the most heavily industrialized in the state.
Like many state capitals, Indianapolis owed most of its early growth to its status as a center of government. Located on the White River, with insufficient depth to allow commercial navigation, the city had to wait until the railroad era to take advantage of its strategic location in the center of the state. Although hampered by a lack of natural resources in the immediate area, Indianapolis eventually developed a diverse manufacturing base to supplement its role as a center of government and commerce.
Hoosier Values
Even as the state edged into urbanism, it retained much of the small-town values from its early days. As explored by Robert S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd in their classic sociological study of Muncie, Middletown: A Study in ModernAmerican Culture (1929), typical Hoosiers valued consensus and conformity, even as they embraced modern conveniences at home and at work. Although Middle-town's residents respected differences in religion and politics, they were suspicious of beliefs deemed foreign or strange. The source of both the state's strength and weakness, these dichotomous characteristics were the basis for some of the best literary works produced by Indiana writers, including native sons such as Booth Tarkington, James Whitcomb Riley, and Theodore Dreiser.
Increasingly, the white, Anglo-Saxon character of small-town Hoosier life became more heterogeneous in the twentieth century. In 1920, a bare majority of the state's almost three million residents lived in urban areas. Foreign-born residents represented over 5 percent of the population; the Great Migration of African Americans northward after World War I increased their presence to almost 3 percent. These demographic changes, along with a conservative reaction to the spread of Jazz Age culture in the 1920s, fueled a rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana. The state became the midwestern center of the organization in the 1920s. Under the banner of patriotism, combined with directives against Roman Catholics, the foreign-born, and African Americans, the Klan attracted upwards of 300,000 Hoosier members by 1923 in urban and rural areas alike. By the following year, Klan-endorsed candidates controlled the Indiana legislature and the governor's office as well. Only in 1925, after the conviction of Klan leader D. C. Stephenson for murder and rape, did the organization relinquish its hold on Indiana politics. A 1928 Pulitzer Prize–winning campaign by the Indianapolis Times against the Klan finally purged it from legitimate political circles.
Industrial Strength
Aside from the conservative politics of the decade, the driving force in Hoosier life was the state's continuing industrialization that linked it firmly with the national economy, especially the automobile industry. By the end of the 1920s, steel production was the state's largest industry, with automobile and auto parts manufacturing and electrical component production ranked just behind it. Most northern and central Indiana cities were tied to the auto industry with at least one automobile or parts production factory employing their citizens, while the Calumet cities continued to expand their steel output. To the south, Evansville became a major center of refrigeration unit production. The state's natural resources also continued to make Indiana a center of limestone, sand, and coal output, particularly throughout the southern part of the state.
Given the economy's growing dependence on durable goods manufacturing by 1930, the onset of the Great Depression hit the state hard. Industrial employment plunged to almost half its pre-Depression level by 1932, as employers such as U.S. Steel, which had doubled its production capacity in the 1920s, shut down. In the midst of New Deal attempts to revive the economy, Hoosier workers responded with a number of organizational efforts to form labor unions. A sit-down strike at Anderson's Guide Lamp factory in 1936 and 1937 led by the United Auto Workers (UAW) was a pivotal action in forcing General Motors to recognize the right of workers to collectively bargain through their unions. Anderson became a bastion of UAW support in politics and society, while Evansville witnessed the rise of the United Electrical Workers and the Calumet region, the United Steel Workers. As it had been since the 1890s, the United Mine Workers remained a strong force in the lives of thousands of Hoosiers in the coal mining towns of southern Indiana.
Spurred on by lucrative federal contracts to industrial employers during World War II, the state's emphasis on manufacturing investment continued into the postwar era. By 1958, over 40 percent of the state's total earnings came from the manufacturing sector, a rate that far outpaced the national average. Even as the national economy moved away from durable goods manufacturing, Indiana remained a bastion of manufacturing strength: in 1981, the national economy derived less than 17 percent of its earnings from durable goods production, while in Indiana, the rate was over 31 percent. Although the manufacturing sector provided many Hoosiers with high-wage jobs and advantageous benefits, the state's dependence on the industrial sector came under criticism during the recession from 1979 to 1982. With prohibitively high interest rates and energy prices, many industrial corporations failed to reinvest in new technology and equipment; as a result, many of the so-called "smokestack industries" lost their competitive advantage during the recession. About one-quarter of the employees in the durable goods sector lost their jobs in Indiana, and unemployment rates in Muncie and Anderson topped 18 percent in 1982.
While those without a college degree had previously obtained high-paying jobs in the manufacturing sector, public leaders were concerned that the state's economy might not provide such opportunities in the future. Calls for greater access to Indiana's system of higher education prevailed in the 1980s and 1990s. Although the Purdue University and Indiana University systems had expanded greatly with branch campuses around the state after World War II, in 1990 the college attendance rate of 37 percent continued to trail the national average of 45 percent. Indiana also ranked low on the number of college graduates who completed their degrees and remained in the state's workforce.
As it emerged from the recession of the early 1980s, Indiana's manufacturing base contributed to the recovery and the state remained one of the top five producers of aircraft engines and parts, truck and bus bodies, steel, surgical supplies, and pharmaceuticals. In 1999, manufacturing jobs made up 23.4 percent of nonfarm employment. While the overall number of manufacturing jobs in Indiana increased throughout the 1990s, the service sector became the single largest provider of nonagricultural jobs, with a 24.3 percent share. Agricultural production, once a mainstay of the state's development, represented just 1.8 percent of Indiana's economic output in 1997. In Indianapolis, the Eli Lilly Company, making products from insulin to Prozac, ranked as the state's largest corporation, with global sales approaching $11 billion in 2000. Overall, the Hoosier economy was the nation's eighteenth largest in 1997; with 27 percent of its manufacturing workforce making products for export, Indiana ranked fifteenth in the nation as an exporting state.
At the millennium, Indiana had 6,080,485 inhabitants, making it the nation's fourteenth most populous state. African Americans comprised the state's largest minority group, with 8.4 percent of the total population; 87.5 percent of Hoosiers identified themselves as white. Indianapolis had a population of more than 750,000 people, but no other city other than Fort Wayne had more than 200,000 residents. Indeed, Indiana's reputation remained rooted in a small-town, Hoosier identity. Steve Tesich's portrait of town-and-gown relations in Bloomington, the subject of the coming-of-age movie Breaking Away (1979), won an Academy Award for best screenplay. Hammond resident Jean Shepherd's wry reminiscences of the 1940s served as the basis for the movie A Christmas Story (1983). The movie Hoosiers (1986), based on the basketball team from the town of Milan that won the state championship in the 1950s, also thrilled audiences who rooted for the underdog team. Few other states follow high school and college sports teams so avidly. Basketball remains the top Hoosier pasttime, and Indianapolis waged a successful campaign to become the home of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1999. The NCAA Hall of Champions museum, along with the annual five-hundred-mile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has added to the city's popularity as a tourist destination.
While the ascendancy of Dan Quayle to vice president in 1988 led some observers to herald a period of Republican dominance in the state, Indiana voters remained steadfastly centrist in their habits. The Indiana legislature typically was evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. After a twenty-year run of Republican governors, the Democrat Evan Bayh in 1989 began the first of two terms as governor. In 1998, Bayh went on to the U.S. Senate in a landslide victory with 63 percent of the vote. He was replaced by another Democrat, Frank O'Bannon, who in 2000 won another term in office with 57 percent of the vote. Like Bayh, the state's senior senator, Republican Richard Lugar, was regarded as a political centrist, holding conservative views on fiscal matters while avoiding stridency on foreign relations or public policy issues. Avoiding the political extremes, both senators embodied the central values of their Hoosier constituents.
Bibliography
Cayton, Andrew R. L. Frontier Indiana. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.
Critchlow, Donald T. Studebaker: The Life and Death of an American Corporation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.
Lynd, Robert S., and Helen Merrell Lynd. Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1929.
Madison, James H. The Indiana Way: A State History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986.
———, ed. Heart Land: Comparative Histories of the Midwestern States. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988.
Nelson, Daniel. Farm and Factory: Workers in the Midwest, 1880–1990. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.
Facts and Figures
Area, 36,291 sq mi (93,994 sq km). Pop. (2000) 6,080,485, a 9.7% increase since the 1990 census. Capital and largest city, Indianapolis. Statehood, Dec. 11, 1816 (19th state). Highest pt., 1,257 ft (383 m), Wayne co.; lowest pt., Ohio River, 320 ft (98 m). Nickname, Hoosier State. Motto, Crossroads of America. State bird, cardinal. State flower, peony. State tree, tulip poplar. Abbr., Ind.; IN
Geography
Northern Indiana is a glaciated lake area, separated by the Wabash River from the central agricultural plain, which is rich with deep glacial drift. The southern portion of the state is a succession of bottomlands interspersed with knolls and ridges, gorges and valleys. Limestone caves, such as the big Wyandotte Cave, and mineral springs, as at French Lick and West Baden Springs, are found there. The unglaciated soil is shallow in S Indiana, and the cutting of timber has caused erosion, but there is still extensive farming.
The capital and largest city is Indianapolis, in the central part of the state. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, with a 3-mi (4.8-km) frontage on Lake Michigan, is noted for its beautiful shifting sand dunes. Formerly a state park, the area was made a National Lakeshore in 1966. Four years earlier, in 1962, the U.S. Congress authorized the establishment of the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in S Indiana. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the site of the famous 500-mi (800-km) auto race, held annually.
Economy
Although Indiana is primarily a manufacturing state, about three quarters of the land is utilized for agriculture. With a growing season of about 170 days and an average rainfall of 40 in. (102 cm) per year, Indiana farms have rich yields. Grain crops, mainly corn and wheat, are important and also support livestock and dairying industries. Soybeans and hay are also principal crops, and popcorn and widely varied vegetables and fruits are also produced. Hogs, eggs, and cattle are also important. Meatpacking is chief among the many industries related to agriculture. Although the urban population exceeds the rural, many towns are primarily service centers for agricultural communities.
There are, however, cities with varied heavy industries; prominent, besides Indianapolis, are Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Kokomo, South Bend, and Terre Haute. These cities were among the highest in the nation in unemployment during the recession of the early 1980s. Indiana's leading manufactures are iron and steel, electrical equipment, transportation equipment, nonelectrical machinery, chemicals, food products, and fabricated metals. Rich mineral deposits of coal and stone (the S central Indiana area is the nation's leading producer of building limestone) have encouraged construction and industry.
Throughout the state the products of farms and factories are transported by truck and by train. Indiana calls itself the crossroads of America, and its extreme northwest corner-where transportation lines head east after converging on nearby Chicago from all directions-is one of the most heavily traveled areas in the world in terms of rail, road, and air traffic. Waterborne traffic is also important; improvements on the Ohio River and the opening (1959) of the St. Lawrence Seaway have benefited the state. With the opening in 1970 of the Burns Waterway Harbor on Lake Michigan, Indiana gained its first public port and enhanced its shipping facilities.
Government, Politics, and Higher Education
Indiana's constitution dates from 1851 and provides for an elected executive and legislature. A governor serves as the chief executive for a term of four years. The legislature, called the general assembly, has a senate with 50 members and a house of representatives with 100 members. Indiana elects 9 representatives and 2 senators to the U.S. Congress and has 11 electoral votes.
During the 20th cent. Indiana has been generally conservative and Republican, although Democrats have had some successes in gubernatorial and congressional elections. Evan Bayh, elected governor in 1988 and 1992, was succeeded by another Democrat, Frank O'Bannon, elected in 1996 and reelected in 2000. Lt. Gov. Joseph E. Kernan, also a Democrat, succeeded O'Bannon when the latter died in 2003, but Kernan lost to Republican Mitch Daniels in 2004. Daniels was reelected in 2008.
Among the institutions of higher learning in Indiana are Indiana Univ., at Bloomington; Purdue Univ., at West Lafayette; the Univ. of Notre Dame, near South Bend; Indiana Univ./Purdue Univ. at Indianapolis (IUPUI); Indiana State Univ., at Terre Haute; DePauw Univ., at Greencastle; Butler Univ., at Indianapolis; Valparaiso Univ., at Valparaiso; Wabash College, at Crawfordsville; Earlham College, at Richmond; and Goshen College, at Goshen.
History
From the Mound Builders to Tippecanoe
The Mound Builders were Indiana's earliest known inhabitants, and the remains of their culture have been found along Indiana's rivers and bottomlands. The region was first explored by Europeans, notably the French, in the late 17th cent. The leading French explorer was Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, who came to the area in 1679. At the time of exploration, the area was occupied mainly by Native American groups of the Miami, Delaware, and Potawatamie descents. Vincennes, the first permanent settlement, was fortified in 1732, but for the first half of the 1700s, most of the settlers in the area were Jesuit missionaries or fur traders.
By the Treaty of Paris of 1763 ending the French and Indian Wars, Indiana, then part of the area known as the Old Northwest, passed from French to British control. Along with the rest of the Old Northwest, Indiana was united with Canada under the Quebec Act of 1774 (see Intolerable Acts). During the American Revolution an expedition led by George Rogers Clark captured, lost, and then recaptured Vincennes from the British. By the Treaty of Paris of 1783 ending the Revolutionary War, Great Britain ceded the Old Northwest to the United States.
Indiana was still largely unsettled when the Northwest Territory, of which it formed a part, was established in 1787. Native Americans in the territory resisted settlement, but Gen. Anthony Wayne's victory at Fallen Timbers in 1794 effectively ended Native American resistance in the Old Northwest. U.S. forces led by Gen. William Henry Harrison also defeated the Native American forces in the battle of Tippecanoe (1811) in the Wabash country.
Indiana Territory and Statehood
In 1800, Indiana Territory was formed and included the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, and parts of Michigan and Minnesota. Vincennes was made the capital, which in 1813 was moved to Corydon. A constitutional convention met in 1816, and Indiana achieved statehood. Jonathan Jennings, an opponent of slavery, was elected governor. Indianapolis was laid out as the state capital, and the executive moved there in 1824-25.
Indiana was the site of several experimental communities in the early 19th cent., notably the Rappite (1815) and Owenite (1825) settlements at New Harmony. In the 1840s the Wabash and Erie Canal opened between Lafayette and Toledo, Ohio, giving Indiana a water route via Lake Erie to eastern markets. Also in the 1840s the state's first railroad line was completed between Indianapolis and Madison. The Hoosier spirit of simplicity and forthrightness that developed during Indiana's early years of statehood figured in the writings of Edward Eggleston in The Hoosier Schoolmaster and was represented in much later days by James Whitcomb Riley, George Ade, Gene Stratton Porter, and also in the nostalgic lyric by Paul Dresser (brother of Indiana-born novelist Theodore Dreiser) for the song "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away."
The Civil War and Its Aftermath
The Civil War brought great changes in the state. In the elections of 1860, Indiana voted for Lincoln, who had spent his boyhood in the Hoosier state. Although there was some proslavery sentiment in Indiana, represented by the Knights of the Golden Circle, Oliver P. Morton, governor during the war, held the state unswervingly to the Union cause even after constitutional government broke down in 1862. General John Hunt Morgan led a Confederate raid into Indiana in 1863, but otherwise little action occurred in the state.
Manufacturing, which had been stimulated in Indiana by the needs of the war, developed rapidly after the war. Factories sprang up, and the old rustic pattern was broken. However, Indiana's farmers continued to be an important force in the state, and in the hard times following the Panic of 1873 indebted farmers expressed their discontent by supporting the Granger movement and later the Greenback party in 1876 and the Populist party in the 1890s.
Industrialization and the Labor Movement
Industrial development came to the Calumet region along Indiana's Lake Michigan shoreline in the late 19th cent. Marshy wastelands were drained and transformed into an area supporting a complex of factories and oil refineries. As the 19th cent. drew to a close, industry continued to expand and the growing numbers of industrial workers in the state sought to organize through labor unions. Eugene V. Debs, one of the great early labor leaders, was from Indiana, and the labor movement at Gary in the Calumet area figured prominently in the nationwide steel strike just after World War I. Indiana was an early leader in the production of automobiles. Before Detroit took control of the industry in the 1920s, Indiana boasted over 300 automobile companies.
Indiana society in the first half of the 20th cent. has been described in a number of studies and books. The classic sociological study by Robert S. Lynd and Helen M. Lynd of an American manufacturing town, Middletown (1929), was based on data from Muncie, Ind. Midwestern life and American boyhood were portrayed realistically, and often with humor and optimism, in the novels of Booth Tarkington. Another Indiana author, Theodore Dreiser, wrote more generally of American society in a changing age. In the 1930s and 1940s, Wendell Willkie and Ernie Pyle, both natives of Indiana, became nationally prominent figures in politics and journalism, respectively.
Although Indiana in the latter half of the 19th cent. was regarded as a "swing state" electorally, it has generally been conservative throughout the 1900s. Republican J. Danforth "Dan" Quayle, elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980 and 1986, was elected vice president of the United States in 1988. From the 1980s through the mid-1990s, the northern industrial portion of the state experienced a period of significant decline, along with the rest of the midwestern "rust belt." However, the area around Indianapolis experienced significant growth with a diversified economy.
Bibliography
See H. H. Peckham, Indiana, a History (1978); J. S. Blue, Hoosier Wit & Wisdom (1985); E. E. Lyon and L. Dillon, Indiana: The American Heartland (1986); J. H. Madison, The Indiana Way (1986); R. M. Taylor, Jr., et al., Indiana: A New Historical Guide (1989).
State in the midwestern United States bordered by Michigan to the north, Ohio to the east, Kentucky to the south, and Illinois to the west. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis.
| It is 5:04 AM, May 25, in Indiana. | ![]() |
| It is 4:04 AM, May 25, in Indiana (far west). | ![]() |
Grapes were first planted in this Midwest state in the late 1700s and it became one of the 10 largest grape-producing states in the early to mid-1800s. Vineyard diseases destroyed most of the vines in the mid- to late 1800s, and it wasn't until the Small Winery Act passed in the early 1970s that a rebirth took place. Today Indianapolis hosts the annual Indy International Wine Competition, one of the largest U.S. Wine competitions outside of California. Currently there are just over twenty-five wineries in the state. A majority of the wines here are made from hybrid grapes like aurora, catawba, seyval blanc, vidal blanc andvignoles there are a large number of fruit wines produced. vitis vinifera grapes like cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay are being planted, particularly near Bloomington and Milan. Some wineries still purchase crushed grapes from areas like California and make the wine at their facility. Areas around the Ohio River are part of the ohio river valley ava which also includes parts of kentucky, ohio and west virginia.
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| The Flag of Indiana. | |
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| Bird(s) | Cardinal |
| Flower(s) | Peony |
| Tree | Tulip tree |
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| Beverage | Water |
| Poem | "Indiana" |
| Slogan(s) | Restart your Engines |
| Soil | Miami |
| Song(s) | "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" |
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Indiana (
i/ɪndiˈænə/) is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 15th most populous of the 50 United States. Indiana is the least extensive state in the continental US west of the Appalachian Mountains. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis, the second largest of any state capital and largest state capital east of the Mississippi River.
Before it became a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Angel Mounds State Historic Site, one of the best preserved ancient earthwork mound sites in the United States, can be found in Southwestern Indiana near Evansville.[5] Residents of Indiana are known as Hoosiers. The etymology of the word is disputed, but the leading theory as advanced by the Indiana Historical Bureau and the Indiana Historical Society has "Hoosier" originating from the upland South region of the U.S. as a derogatory slang term for a rough countryman, a country bumpkin.[6]
The state's name means "Land of the Indians," or simply "Indian Land." This name dates back to at least the 1760s but was first applied to the region by the United States Congress when the Indiana Territory was incorporated in 1800, separating it from the Northwest Territory.[7][8] Since its founding as a territory, settlement patterns in Indiana have reflected regional cultural segmentation present in the Eastern United States; the state's northernmost tier was settled primarily by people from New England and New York, Central Indiana by migrants from the Mid-Atlantic states and from adjacent Ohio, and Southern Indiana by settlers from the Southern states, particularly Kentucky and Tennessee.[9]
Indiana has a diverse economy with a gross state product of $214 billion in 2005.[10] Indiana has several metropolitan areas with populations greater than 100,000 and a number of smaller industrial cities and towns. Indiana is home to several major sports teams and athletic events including the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, the NBA's Indiana Pacers, the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, and the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 motorsports races. The state has several universities ranked among the best in U.S. News & World Report's 2011 rankings. Purdue University, Indiana University, and the University of Notre Dame are ranked among the top 50 in the National Universities Rankings, while Butler University, Valparaiso University and the University of Evansville are ranked among the top 10 in the Regional University Midwest Rankings.[11][12]
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The first residents in what is now Indiana were the Paleo-Indians, ingressing about 8000 BC after the melting of the glaciers at the conclusion of the Ice Age. Divided into small groups, the Paleo-Indians were nomads who hunted large game such as Mastodons. They created stone tools made out of chert by chipping, knapping and flaking.[13] The subsequent phase of Indiana's Native American antiquity is called the Archaic period, which occurred between 5000 and 4000 BC. They differed from the Paleo-Indians in that they used new tools and techniques to prepare food. Such new tools included different types of spear points and knives, with various forms of notches. They also used ground stone tools such as stone axes, woodworking tools and grinding stones. During the latter part of the period, mounds and middens were created, indicating that their settlements were becoming more permanent. The Archaic period ended at about 1500 BC, although some Archaic people lived until 700 BC.[13] Afterwards, the Woodland period took place in Indiana, where various new cultural attributes appeared. During this period, ceramics and pottery were created as well as the increase of usage in horticulture. An early Woodland period group named the Adena people had elegant burial rituals, featuring log tombs beneath earth mounds. In the middle portion of the Woodland period, the Hopewell people began exploration of long-range trade of goods. Nearing the end of the stage, an exhaustive cultivation and adaptation of agriculture to grow crops such as corn and squash. The Woodland period ended around 1000 AD.[13] The incoming period afterwards was known as the Mississippian period, which lasted from 1000 until the 15th century, shortly befoe the arrival of Europeans. During this stage, large settlements were created that had similarities to towns, such as the Angel Mounds. They had large public areas such as plazas and platform mounds, where instrumental individuals of the settlement lived or conducted rituals. Mississippian civilization collapsed in Indiana during the mid-1400s for reasons that remain unclear.[13]
French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was the first European to cross into Indiana after reaching present-day South Bend at the Saint Joseph River in 1679.[14] He returned the following year to gain knowledge of northern Indiana. Canadian fur traders also came along and brought blankets, jewelry, tools, whiskey and weapons to trade for skins with the Native Americans. By 1702, the first trading post was established by Sieur Juchereau near Vincennes. In 1715, Sieur de Vincennes built Fort Miami at Kekionga, now Fort Wayne. In 1717, another Canadian, Picote de Beletre, built Fort Ouiatenon on the Wabash River, with the efforts to control Native American trade routes from Lake Erie to the Mississippi River. In 1732, Sieur de Vincennes built a second fur trading post at Vincennes. Canadian settlers, which had left the earlier post because of hostilities, came back in larger numbers. In a period of a few years however, the British arrived and contended against the Canadians for management of the fruitful fur trade. Fighting between the Canadians and British occurred throughout the 1750s as a result.
The Native American tribes of Indiana sided with the Canadians during the French and Indian War. By the conclusion of the war in 1763, the French had lost all land west of the colonies, and control had been ceded to the British crown. Neighboring tribes in Indiana, however, did not give up and destroyed Fort Ouiatenon and Fort Miami during Pontiac's Rebellion. The royal proclamation of 1763 ceded the land west of the Appalachians for Indian use, and was thus labeled Indian territory. In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began as the colonists looked to free themselves from British rule. The majority of the fighting took place in the east, but military officer George Rogers Clark called for an army to help fight the British in the west.[16] Clark's army won significant battles to overtake Vincennes and Fort Sackville on February 25, 1779.[17] During the war, Clark managed to cut off British troops who were attacking the colonist from the west. His success is often credited for changing the course of the American Revolutionary War.[18] At the end of the revolutionary war, through the treaty of Paris, the British crown ceded their claims to the land south of the Great Lakes to the newly formed United States.
Present-day Indiana became part of the Northwest Territory in 1787. In 1800, Ohio was separated from the Northwest Territory by Congress, designating the rest of the land as the Indiana Territory.[19] President Thomas Jefferson chose William Henry Harrison as the governor of the territory and Vincennes was established as the capital.[20] After Michigan was separated and the Illinois Territory was formed, the size of Indiana was reduced to its current state.[19] In 1810, Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa encouraged other tribes to resist European settlement into the territory. Tensions rose and Harrison was authorized to launch a preemptive expedition against Tecumseh's Confederacy resulting in a US victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811. Tecumseh was killed in 1813 during the Battle of Thames. After his death, armed resistance to United States control ended in the region. Most Native Americans in the state were later removed through negotiations to purchase their lands in the 1820s and 1830s.[21]
In December 1813, Corydon became the second capital of the Indiana Territory.[19] Two years later, a petition for statehood was approved by the territorial general assembly and sent to Congress. Afterwards, an Enabling Act was passed to provide an election of delegates to write a constitution for Indiana. On June 10, 1816, delegates assembled at Corydon to write the constitution, which was completed in nineteen days. President James Madison approved Indiana's admission into the union as the nineteenth state on December 11, 1816.[17] In 1825, the state capital was moved from Corydon to Indianapolis and 26 years later, a second constitution was adopted.[19] Following statehood, the new government set out on an ambitious plan to transform Indiana from a wilderness frontier into a developed, well-populated, and thriving state, beginning significant demographic and economic changes. The state's founders initiated a program that led to the construction of roads, canals, railroads and state-funded public schools. The plans bankrupted the state and were a financial disaster, but increased land and produce value more than fourfold.[22] The early nineteenth century saw much immigration to Indiana. The largest immigrant group to settle in Indiana were Germans, though there were also substantial numbers of immigrants from Ireland and England as well as Americans who were ethnically English from regions such as New York, New England and Pennsylvania.[23][24]
During the American Civil War, Indiana became politically influential and played an important role in the affairs of the nation. As the first western state to mobilize for the war, Indiana's soldiers were present in all of the major engagements during the war. Indiana residents were present in both the first and last battles and the state provided 126 infantry regiments, 26 batteries of artillery and 13 regiments of cavalry to the cause of the Union.[25] In 1861, Indiana was assigned a quota of 7,500 men to join the Union Army.[26] So many volunteered in the first call that thousands had to be turned away. Before the war ended, Indiana contributed 208,367 men to fight and serve in the war. Casualties were over 35% among these men: 24,416 lost their lives in the conflict and over 50,000 more were wounded.[27] The only Civil War battle fought in Indiana was the Battle of Corydon, which occurred during Morgan's Raid. The battle left 15 dead, 40 wounded, and 355 captured.[28]
Following the American Civil War, Indiana industry began to grow at an accelerated rate across the northern part of the state leading to the formation of labor unions and suffrage movements.[29] The Indiana Gas Boom led to rapid industrialization during the late 19th century by providing cheap fuel to the region.[30] In the early 20th century, Indiana developed into a strong manufacturing state with strong ties to the auto industry.[23] Haynes-Apperson, the nation's first commercially successful auto company operated in Kokomo until 1925. The state also saw many developments with the construction of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the start many other auto industries.[31] During the 1930s, Indiana, like the rest of the nation, was affected by the Great Depression. The economic downturn had a wide-ranging negative impact on Indiana, such as the decline of urbanization. The situation was aggravated by the Dust Bowl, which caused an influx of migrants from the rural Midwestern United States. Governor Paul V. McNutt's administration struggled to build a state-funded welfare system to help the overwhelmed private charities. During his administration, spending and taxes were both cut drastically in response to the depression and the state government was completely reorganized. McNutt also ended Prohibition in the state and enacted the state's first income tax. On several occasions, he declared martial law to put an end to worker strikes.[32] World War II helped lift the economy in Indiana, as the war required steel, food and other goods that were produced in Indiana.[33] Roughly 10 percent of Indiana's population joined the armed forces while hundreds of industries earned war production contracts and began making war material.[34] The effects of the war helped end the Great Depression.[33]
With the conclusion of World War II, Indiana rebounded to levels of production prior to the Great Depression. Industry became the primary employer, a trend that continued into the 1960s. Urbanization during the 1950s and 1960s led to substantial growth in the state's urban centers. The auto, steel and pharmaceutical industries topped Indiana's major businesses. Indiana's population continued to grow during the years after the war, exceeding five million by the 1970 census.[35] In the 1960s, the administration of Matthew E. Welsh adopted its first sales tax of two percent.[36] Indiana schools had been desegregated in 1949. Welsh also worked with the General Assembly to pass the Indiana Civil Rights Bill, granting equal protection to minorities in seeking employment.[37] Beginning in 1970, a series of amendments to the state constitution were proposed. With adoption, the Indiana Court of Appeals was created and the procedure of appointing justices on the courts was adjusted.[38] The 1973 oil crisis created a recession that hurt the automotive industry in Indiana. Companies like Delco Electronics and Delphi began a long series of downsizing that contributed to high unemployment rates in manufacturing in Anderson, Muncie, and Kokomo. The deindustrialization trend continued until the 1980s when the national and state economy began to diversify and recover.[39]
With a total area of 36,418 square miles (94,320 km²), Indiana ranks as the 38th largest state in size.[40] The state has a maximum dimension north to south of 250 miles (400 km) and a maximum east to west dimension of 145 miles (233 km).[41] The state is bordered on the north by Michigan, on the east by Ohio and on the west by Illinois.[42] The Ohio River separates Indiana from Kentucky on the southern border.[43] Indiana is one of eight states that make up the Great Lakes region.[44] The state includes two natural regions of the United States, the Central Lowland and the Interior Low Plateau.[45] The average altitude of Indiana is about 760 feet (230 m) above sea level.[46] The highest point in the state is Hoosier Hill, which is 1,257 feet (383 m) above sea level.[47] Only 2,850 square miles (7,400 km²) have an altitude greater than 1,000 feet (300 m) and this area is enclosed within 14 counties. About 4,700 square miles (12,000 km²) have an elevation of less than 500 feet (150 m).[48]
The till plains make up the central allotment of Indiana. Much of its appearance is a result of elements left behind by glaciers. The area includes some low hills and the soil is composed of glacial sands, gravel and clay, which results to exceptional farmland in central Indiana.[42] The unglaciated segment of the state carries a different and off-balance surface, characterized in places by profound valleys and expeditious streams. A limited area in the southeastern area of the state possesses these types of characteristics. The soil is fertile in the valleys of Indiana, most notably Whitewater Valley which is known for its prodigious farming. In northwest Indiana, there are various sand hills and dunes, due in some measure to a former extension of the lake and wind action. In the basin of the Kankakee River there is an extensive scope of lakes, marshes and prairies. In northeastern Indiana there is a region of tall moraines, one of which is 200 to 500 feet (61 to 150 m) deep, 25 miles (40 km) wide and stretching across a distance of 100 miles (160 km).[49]
The Wabash River, which is the longest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi, is the official river of Indiana.[50][51] At 475 miles (764 km) in length, the river bisects the state from northeast to southwest before flowing south, mostly along the Indiana-Illinois border. The river has been the subject of several songs, such as On the Banks of the Wabash, The Wabash Cannonball and Back Home Again, In Indiana.[52][53]
The Kankakee River passes through northern Indiana before emptying into the Illinois River and serves as a demarcating line between suburban northwest Indiana and the rest of the state.[54] There are over 1,000 lakes in Indiana.[55] Indiana borders Lake Michigan where the Port of Indiana operates the state's largest shipping port. Tippecanoe Lake is the deepest lake in the state reaching depths at nearly 120 feet (37 m) while Lake Wawasee is the largest natural lake in Indiana.[56]
Indiana has a humid continental climate, with cool winters and warm, irriguous summers.[57] The extreme southern portion of the state is within the humid subtropical climate area and receives more precipitation than other parts of Indiana.[42] Temperatures generally diverge from the north and south sections of the state. In the middle of the winter, average high/low temperatures range from around 30 °F/15 °F (−1 °C/-10 °C) in the far north to 39 °F/22 °F (4 °C/-6 °C) in the far south. In the middle of summer there is generally a little less variation across the state, as average high/low temperatures range from around 84 °F/64 °F (29 °C/18 °C) in the far north to 90 °F/69 °F (32 °C/21 °C) in the far south.[58] The record high temperature for the state was 116 °F (47 °C) set on July 14, 1936 at Collegeville. The record low was −36 °F (−38 °C) on January 19, 1994 at New Whiteland. The growing season typically spans from 155 days in the north and 185 days in the south. While droughts occasionally occur in the state, rainfall totals are administered relatively equally throughout the year. Precipitation totals range from 35 inches (89 cm) near Lake Michigan to 45 inches (110 cm) along the Ohio River, with the state average being 40 inches (100 cm). The annual snowfall in Indiana varies widely across the state, ranging from 80 inches (200 cm) in the northwest along Lake Michigan to 14 inches (36 cm) in the far south. Lake effect snow accounts for roughly half of the snowfall in northwest and northcentral Indiana, due to the effects of the moisture and relative warmth of Lake Michigan upwind. The mean wind speed is 8 miles per hour (13 km/h).[59] Indiana is one of the most tornado-prone states in the country, ranking sixth in a list by VorTek, an Alabama company. The city of South Bend was ranked the 14th most tornado-prone city in the country, ahead of cities such as Houston and Wichita.[60] The same company also published a list of the most tornado prone cities and states in April, with Indiana coming in first and South Bend ranking 16th.[61] Despite its vulnerability, Indiana is not a part of tornado alley.[60]
| Average Precipitation in Indiana[62] | ||||||||||||
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.48 | 2.27 | 3.36 | 3.89 | 4.46 | 4.19 | 4.22 | 3.91 | 3.12 | 3.02 | 3.44 | 3.13 | 41.49 |
Indiana is one of thirteen U.S. states that is divided into more than one time zone. Indiana's time zones have fluctuated over the past century. At present most of the state observes Eastern Time; six counties near Chicago and six near Evansville observe Central Time. Debate continues on the matter.
Before 2006, most of Indiana did not observe daylight saving time (DST). Some counties within this area, particularly Floyd, Clark, and Harrison counties near Louisville, Kentucky, and Ohio and Dearborn counties near Cincinnati, Ohio, unofficially observed DST by local custom. Since April 2006 the entire state observes DST.
Indiana is divided into 92 counties. Only one, Marion, is a consolidated city-county.
Indianapolis, the current capital of Indiana is the third capital in the history of the state. The territorial capitals were Vincennes and later Corydon which became the first state capital when Indiana became a state. The center of population in Indiana as well as the geographic center of Indiana are both located near Indianapolis.[citation needed] Indiana has four large metropolitan areas anchored by in-state cities; Pictured below are the cities larger than 55,000 in order of population with their most current population estimates from the 2010 United States Census.[63]
|
Major Cities (population > 100,000 and above) Secondary Cities (population < 100,000) |
|
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1800 | 2,632 |
|
|
| 1810 | 24,520 | 831.6% | |
| 1820 | 147,178 | 500.2% | |
| 1830 | 343,031 | 133.1% | |
| 1840 | 685,866 | 99.9% | |
| 1850 | 988,416 | 44.1% | |
| 1860 | 1,350,428 | 36.6% | |
| 1870 | 1,680,637 | 24.5% | |
| 1880 | 1,978,301 | 17.7% | |
| 1890 | 2,192,404 | 10.8% | |
| 1900 | 2,516,462 | 14.8% | |
| 1910 | 2,700,876 | 7.3% | |
| 1920 | 2,930,390 | 8.5% | |
| 1930 | 3,238,503 | 10.5% | |
| 1940 | 3,427,796 | 5.8% | |
| 1950 | 3,934,224 | 14.8% | |
| 1960 | 4,662,498 | 18.5% | |
| 1970 | 5,193,669 | 11.4% | |
| 1980 | 5,490,224 | 5.7% | |
| 1990 | 5,544,159 | 1.0% | |
| 2000 | 6,080,485 | 9.7% | |
| 2010 | 6,483,802 | 6.6% | |
| Source: 1910–2010[64] | |||
The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Indiana was 6,516,922 on July 1, 2011, a 0.51% increase since the 2010 United States Census.[2]
As of 2010, there were 6,483,802 people residing in the state. The population density was 181.0 persons per square mile. The racial makeup of the state was 84.3% White, 9.1% African American, 1.6% Asian, 2.0% from a biracial or multiracial background and 0.3% Native American. Hispanic or Latino of any race made up 6.0% of the population.[65] The Hispanic population is Indiana’s fastest growing minority.[66] In the state, 24.9% of the population are under the age of 18, 6.9% are under the age of five and 12.8% are 65 years of age or older.[65] The median age is 36.4 years.[66] In 2005, 77.7% of Indiana residents lived in metropolitan counties, 16.5% lived in micropolitan counties and 5.9% lived in non-core counties.[67]
German is the largest ancestry reported in Indiana, with 22.7% of the population reporting that ancestry in the Census. Persons citing American (12.0%) and English ancestry (8.9%) are also numerous, as are Irish (10.8%) and Polish (3.0%).[68] Most of those citing American ancestry are actually of English descent, but have family that has been in North America for so long, in many cases since the early colonial era, that they identify simply as "American".[69][70][71][72] In the 1980 census 1,776,144 people claimed German ancestry, 1,356,135 claimed English ancestry and 1,017,944 claimed Irish ancestry out of a total population of 4,241,975 making the state 42% German, 32% English and 24% Irish.[73]
The center of population of Indiana is located in Hamilton County, in the town of Sheridan.[74] Population growth since 1990 has been concentrated in the counties surrounding Indianapolis, with four of the top five fastest-growing counties in that area: Hamilton, Hendricks, Johnson, and Hancock. The other county is Dearborn County, which is near Cincinnati. Hamilton County has also been the fastest growing county in the area consisting of Indiana and its bordering states of Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky and the 20th fastest growing county in the country.[75]
In 2005, the median household income for Indiana residents was $43,993. Nearly 498,700 Indiana households had incomes from $50,000 to $74,999, accounting for 20% of all households. Hamilton County’s median household income is nearly $35,000 higher than the Indiana average. At $78,932, it ranks seventh in the country among counties with less than 250,000 people. The next highest median incomes in Indiana are also found in the Indianapolis suburbs; Hendricks County has a median of $57,538, followed by Johnson County at $56,251.[76]
| By race | White | Black | AIAN* | Asian | NHPI* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 (total population) | 90.13% | 8.91% | 0.65% | 1.21% | 0.08% |
| 2000 (Hispanic only) | 3.31% | 0.15% | 0.07% | 0.03% | 0.02% |
| 2005 (total population) | 89.57% | 9.42% | 0.63% | 1.44% | 0.08% |
| 2005 (Hispanic only) | 4.29% | 0.19% | 0.08% | 0.04% | 0.02% |
| Growth 2000–05 (total population) | 2.51% | 8.99% | -0.26% | 23.11% | 11.31% |
| Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only) | 1.33% | 8.68% | -2.87% | 22.97% | 9.77% |
| Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only) | 33.38% | 26.82% | 21.02% | 28.42% | 16.70% |
| * AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | |||||
Although the largest single religious denomination in the state is Roman Catholic (836,009 members), most of the population are members of various Protestant denominations. The largest Protestant denomination by number of adherents in 2000 was the United Methodist Church with 288,308.[77] A study by the Graduate Center found that 20 percent are Roman Catholic, 14 percent belong to different Baptist churches, 10 percent are other Christians, nine percent are Methodist, and six percent are Lutheran. The study also found that 16 percent are secular.[78]
Indiana is home to the St. Meinrad Archabbey, one of two archabbeys in the United States and one of 11 in the world. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has one of its two seminaries in Fort Wayne, IN. Two conservative denominations, the Free Methodist Church and the Wesleyan Church, have their headquarters in Indianapolis as does the Christian Church.[79][80] The Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches maintains offices and publishing work in Winona Lake.[81] Huntington serves as the home to the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.[82] Anderson is home to the headquarters of the Church of God.[83] The headquarters of the Missionary Church is located in Fort Wayne.[84] The Friends United Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, the largest branch of American Quakerism, is based in Richmond,[85] which also houses the oldest Quaker seminary in the United States, the Earlham School of Religion.[86] The Islamic Society of North America is headquartered in Plainfield.[87] Indiana has 100,000 Muslims and 17,000 Jews.
With a population of 829,817, Indianapolis is by far the largest city in Indiana and 12th largest in the United States, according to the 2010 Census. Three other cities in Indiana have a population greater than 100,000: Fort Wayne (253,617), Evansville (179,703) and South Bend (101,168). Since 2000, Fishers has seen the largest population rise amongst the state’s 20 largest cities with an increase of 100 percent. Hammond and Gary have seen the largest population declines regarding the top 20 largest cities since 2000, with a decrease of 6.8 and 21.0 percent respectively.[88] Other cities that have seen extensive growth since 2000 are Noblesville (39.4 percent), Greenwood (81 percent), Carmel (21.4 percent) and Lawrence (9.3 percent). Meanwhile, Evansville (−4.2 percent), Anderson (−4 percent) and Muncie (−3.9 percent) are cities that have seen the steepest decline in population in the state.[89] Indianapolis has the largest metropolitan area in the state and 33rd largest in the country.[90] It consists of Marion County and eight surrounding counties in central Indiana.[91] Altogether there are 13 metropolitan areas in Indiana.[92]
The Governor of Indiana serves as the chief executive of the state and has the authority to manage the government as established in the Constitution of Indiana. The governor and the lieutenant governor are jointly elected to four-year terms, with gubernatorial elections running concurrent with United States presidential elections (1996,2000,2004,2008, etc.).[93] The governor may not serve more than two consecutive terms. The governor works with the Indiana General Assembly and the Supreme Court of Indiana to govern the state and has the authority to adjust the other branches. Special sessions of the General Assembly can be called upon by the governor as well as have the power to select and remove leaders of nearly all state departments, boards and commissions. Other notable powers include calling out the Indiana Guard Reserve or the Indiana National Guard in times of emergency or disaster, issuing pardons or commuting the sentence of any criminal offenders except in cases of treason or impeachment and possessing an abundant amount of statutory authority.[93][94][95] The lieutenant governor serves as the President of the Senate and is responsible for ensuring that the senate rules are acted in accordance with by its constituents. The lieutenant governor can only vote to break ties. If the governor dies in office, becomes permanently incapacitated, resigns or is impeached, the lieutenant governor becomes governor. If both the governor and lieutenant governor positions are unoccupied, the Senate President pro tempore becomes governor.[96]
The Indiana General Assembly is composed of a 50-member Senate and 100-member House of Representatives. The Senate is the upper house of the General Assembly and the House of Representatives is the lower house.[93] The General Assembly has exclusive legislative authority within the state government. Both the Senate and House of Representatives can introduce legislation, with the exception that the Senate is not authorized to initiate legislation that will affect revenue. Bills are debated and passed separately in each house, but must be passed by both houses before they can submitted to the Governor.[97] The legislature can nullify a veto from the governor with a majority vote of full membership in the Senate and House of Representatives.[93] Each law passed by the General Assembly must be used without exception to the entire state. The General Assembly has no authority to create legislation that targets only a particular community.[97][98] The General Assembly can manage the state's judiciary system by arranging the size of the courts and the bounds of their districts. It also can oversee the activities of the executive branch of the state government, has restricted power to regulate the county governments within the state, and has exclusive power to initiate the method to alter the Indiana Constitution.[97][99]
The Indiana Supreme Court is made up of five judges with a Court of Appeals composed of 15 judges. The governor selects judges for the supreme and appeal courts from a group of applicants chosen by a special commission. After serving for two years, the judges must acquire the support of the electorate to serve for a 10-year term.[93] In nearly all cases, the Supreme Court does not have original jurisdiction and can only hear cases that are petitioned to the court following being heard in lower courts. Local circuit courts are where the majority of cases begin with a trial and the consequence decided by the jury. The Supreme Court does have original and sole jurisdiction in certain specific areas including the practice of law, discipline or disbarment of Judges appointed to the lower state courts, and supervision over the exercise of jurisdiction by the other lower courts of the State.[100][101]
The state is divided into 92 counties, which are led by a board of county commissioners. 90 counties in Indiana have their own circuit court with a judge elected for a six-year term. The remaining two counties, Dearborn and Ohio, are combined into one circuit. Many counties operate superior courts in addition to the circuit court. In densely populated counties where the caseload is traditionally greater, separate courts have been established to solely hear either juvenile, criminal, probate or small claims cases. The establishment, frequency and jurisdiction of these additional courts varies greatly from county to county. There are 85 city and town courts in Indiana municipalities, created by local ordinance, typically handling minor offenses and not considered courts of record. County officials that are elected to four-year terms include an auditor, recorder, treasurer, sheriff, coroner and clerk of the circuit court. All incorporated cities in Indiana have a mayor and council form of municipal government. Towns are governed by a town council and townships are governed by a township trustee and advisory board.[93][102]
| Year | Republican | Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 48.83% 1,345,648 | 49.86% 1,374,039 |
| 2004 | 59.94% 1,479,438 | 39.26% 969,011 |
| 2000 | 56.65% 1,245,836 | 41.01% 901,980 |
| 1996 | 47.13% 1,006,693 | 41.55% 887,424 |
| 1992 | 42.91% 989,375 | 36.79% 848,420 |
| 1988 | 59.84% 1,297,763 | 39.69% 860,643 |
| 1984 | 61.67% 1,377,230 | 37.68% 841,481 |
| 1980 | 56.01% 1,255,656 | 37.65% 844,197 |
| 1976 | 53.32% 1,183,958 | 45.70% 1,014,714 |
| 1972 | 66.11% 1,405,154 | 33.34% 708,568 |
| 1968 | 50.29% 1,067,885 | 37.99% 806,659 |
| 1964 | 43.56% 911,118 | 55.98% 1,170,848 |
| 1960 | 55.03% 1,175,120 | 44.60% 952,358 |
From 1880 to 1924, a resident of Indiana was included in all but one presidential election. Indiana Representative William Hayden English was nominated for Vice-President and ran with Winfield Scott Hancock in the 1880 election.[104] In 1884, former Indiana Governor Thomas A. Hendricks was elected Vice-President of the United States. He served until his death on November 25, 1885, under President Grover Cleveland.[105] In 1888, Indiana Senator Benjamin Harrison was elected President of the United States and served one term. He remains the only U.S. President from Indiana. Indiana Senator Charles W. Fairbanks was elected Vice-President in 1904, serving under President Theodore Roosevelt until 1913.[106] Fairbanks made another run for Vice-President with Charles Evans Hughes in 1912, but they both lost to Woodrow Wilson and Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall, who served as Vice-President from 1913 until 1921.[107] Not until 1988 did another presidential election involved a native of Indiana, when Senator Dan Quayle was elected Vice-President and served one term with George H. W. Bush.[42]
Indiana has long been considered to be a Republican stronghold,[108][109] particularly in Presidential races, but the Cook Partisan Voting Index (CPVI) now rates Indiana as only R+5, a smaller Republican edge than is assigned to 20 of the 28 "red" states. Indiana was one of only ten states to support Republican Wendell Willkie in 1940.[42] On 14 occasions has the Republican candidate defeated the Democrat by a double digit margin in the state, including six times where a Republican won the state by more than 20%.[110] In 2000 and 2004, George W. Bush won the state by a wide margin while the election was much closer overall. The state has only supported a Democrat for president five times since 1900. In 1912, Woodrow Wilson became the first Democrat to win the state with 43% of the vote. 20 years later, Franklin D. Roosevelt won the state with 55% of the vote over incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt won the state again in 1936. In 1964, 56% of voters supported Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson over Republican Barry Goldwater. 44 years later, Democrat Barack Obama narrowly won the state against John McCain 50% to 49%.[111]
While only five Democratic presidential nominees have carried Indiana since 1900, 11 Democrats were elected governor during that time. Before Mitch Daniels became governor in 2005, Democrats had held the office for 16 consecutive years. Indiana elects two senators and nine representatives to Congress. The state has 11 electoral votes in presidential elections.[110] Seven of the districts favor the Republican Party according to the CPVI rankings; there are currently six Republicans serving as representatives and three Democrats. Historically, Republicans have been strongest in the eastern and central portions of the state, while Democrats have been strongest in the northwestern part of the state. Occasionally, certain counties in the southern part of the state will vote Democratic. Marion County, Indiana's most populated county, supported the Republican candidates from 1968 to 2000, before backing the Democrats in the 2004 and 2008 elections. Indiana's second most populated county, Lake County, is a strong supporter of the Democratic party that has not voted for a Republican since 1972.[110] In 2005, the Bay Area Center for Voting Research rated the most liberal and conservative cities in the United States on voting statistics in the 2004 presidential election, based on 237 cities with populations of more than 100,000. Five Indiana cities were mentioned in the study. On the liberal side, Gary was ranked second and South Bend came in at 83. Regarding conservative cities, Fort Wayne was 44th, Evansville was 60th and Indianapolis was 82nd on the list.[112]
Indiana used to be home to two major military installations, Grissom Air Force Base near Peru (realigned to an Air Force Reserve installation in 1994) and Fort Benjamin Harrison near Indianapolis, now closed, though the Department of Defense continues to operate a large finance center there (Defense Finance and Accounting Service).
Current active installations include Air National Guard fighter units at Fort Wayne, and Terre Haute airports (to be consolidated at Fort Wayne under the 2005 BRAC proposal, with the Terre Haute facility remaining open as a non-flying installation). The Army National Guard conducts operations at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, Indiana, helicopter operations out of Shelbyville Airport and urban training at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division is in the southwest of the state and the Army's Newport Chemical Depot, which is now closed and turning into a coal purifier plant. Also, Naval Operational Support Center Indianapolis is home to several Navy Reserve units, two Marine Reserve units, and a small contingent of active and full-time-support reserve personnel.
In 2000, Indiana had a work force of 3,084,100.[113] The total gross state product in 2010 was $275.7 billion.[114] A high percentage of Indiana's income is from manufacturing.[115] The Calumet region of northwest Indiana is the largest steel producing area in the U.S. Indiana's other manufactures include pharmaceuticals and medical devices, automobiles, electrical equipment, transportation equipment, chemical products, rubber, petroleum and coal products, and factory machinery.
Despite its reliance on manufacturing, Indiana has been much less affected by declines in traditional Rust Belt manufactures than many of its neighbors. The explanation appears to be certain factors in the labor market. First, much of the heavy manufacturing, such as industrial machinery and steel, requires highly skilled labor, and firms are often willing to locate where hard-to-train skills already exist. Second, Indiana's labor force is located primarily in medium-sized and smaller cities rather than in very large and expensive metropolises. This makes it possible for firms to offer somewhat lower wages for these skills than would normally be paid. Firms often see in Indiana a chance to obtain higher than average skills at lower than average wages.[116]
Indiana is home to the international headquarters and research facilities of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly in Indianapolis, the state's largest corporation, as well as the world headquarters of Mead Johnson Nutritionals in Evansville.[117] Overall, Indiana ranks fifth among all U.S. states in total sales and shipments of pharmaceutical products and second highest in the number of biopharmaceutical related jobs.[118]
Indiana is located within the U.S. Corn Belt and Grain Belt. The state has a feedlot-style system raising corn to fatten hogs and cattle. Along with corn, soybeans are also a major cash crop. Its proximity to large urban centers, such as Indianapolis and Chicago, assure that dairying, egg production, and specialty horticulture occur. Other crops include melons, tomatoes, grapes, mint, popping corn, and tobacco in the southern counties.[119] Most of the original land was not prairie and had to be cleared of deciduous trees. Many parcels of woodland remain and support a furniture-making sector in the southern portion of the state.
In 2011 Indiana was ranked first in the Midwest and sixth in the country for best places to do business according to CEO magazine.[120]
Indiana does not have a legal requirement to balance the state budget either in law or its constitution. Instead, Indiana has a constitutional ban on assuming debt. Indiana has a Rainy Day Fund and for healthy reserves proportional to spending. Indiana is one of the few states in the U.S. which do not allow a line-item veto. Indiana does not use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
Indiana has a flat state income tax rate of 3.4%. Many Indiana counties also collect income tax. The state sales tax rate is 7% with exemptions for food, prescription medications and over-the-counter medications.[121] In some jurisdictions an additional Food and Beverage Tax is charged, at a rate of 1% (Marion County’s rate is 2%), on sales of prepared meals and beverages.[122] Property taxes are imposed on both real and personal property in Indiana and are administered by the Department of Local Government Finance. Property is subject to taxation by a variety of taxing units (schools, counties, townships, cities and towns, libraries), making the total tax rate the sum of the tax rates imposed by all taxing units in which a property is located. However, a "circuit breaker" law enacted on March 19, 2008 limits property taxes to one percent of assessed value for homeowners, two percent for rental properties and farmland and three percent for businesses.
In Fiscal year 2011 Indiana reported one of the largest surpluses among U.S states, with an extra $1.2 billion in its accounts. Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, authorized bonus payments of up to $1,000 for state employees on Friday, July 15, 2011. An employee who “meets expectations” will get $500, those who “exceed expectations” will receive $750 and “outstanding workers” will see an extra $1,000 in their August paychecks[123]
Indiana's power production chiefly consists of the consumption of fossil fuels, mainly coal. Indiana has 24 coal power plants, including the largest coal power plant in the United States, Gibson Generating Station, located across the Wabash River from Mount Carmel, Illinois. Indiana is also home to the coal-fired plant with the highest sulfur dioxide emissions in the United States, the Gallagher power plant just west of New Albany.[124] The state has an estimated coal reserves of fifty-seven billion tons; state mining operations produces thirty-five million tons of coal annually.[125] While Indiana has made commitments to increasing use of renewable resources such as wind, hydroelectric, biomass, or solar power, however, progress has been very slow, mainly because of the continued abundance of coal in Southern Indiana. Most of the new plants in the state have been coal gasification plants. Another source is hydroelectric power.
Solar power and wind power are being investigated, and geothermal power is being used commercially. New estimates in 2006 raised the wind capacity for Indiana from 30 MW at 50 m turbine height to 40,000 MW at 70 m, which could double at 100 m, the height of newer turbines.[126] As of the end of June 2008, Indiana has installed 130 MW of wind turbines and has under construction another 400 MW.[127]
See table below for individual facilities.
| Fuel | Capacity | Percent of total consumed | Percent of total production | Number of plants/units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coal | 22,190.5 MW | 63 % | 88.5 % | 28 plants |
| Natural gas | 2,100 MW | 29 % | 10.5 % | 15 facilities *Often used in peaking stations |
| Wind (Currently the fastest growing form of energy in Indiana) |
530.5 MW 1,836.5 MW when all current wind farms are complete |
? | ? | 4 farms appx 1,000–1,100 towers total |
| Coal gasification | 600 MW | ? | ? | 1 facility under construction |
| Petroleum | 575 MW | 7.5 % | 1.5 % | 10 units |
| Hydroelectric | 64 MW | 0.0450 % | 0.0100 % | 1 plant |
| Biomass | 28 MW | 0.0150 % | 0.0020 % | 1 facility |
| Wood and Waste | 18 MW | 0.0013 % | 0.0015 % | 3 units |
| Geothermal and/or Solar | 0 MW | 0.0 % | 0.0 | No facilities at this time |
| Nuclear | 0 MW | 0.0 % | 0.0 | No facilities at this time |
| Total | 22,797.5 MW * only includes top number of wind |
100 % | 100 % | 46 generating facilities |
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Indianapolis International Airport serves the greater Indianapolis area and has finished constructing a new passenger terminal. The new airport opened in November 2008 and offers a new midfield passenger terminal, concourses, air traffic control tower, parking garage, and airfield and apron improvements.[128]
Other major airports include Evansville Regional Airport, Fort Wayne International Airport (which houses the 122d Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard), and South Bend Regional Airport. A long-standing proposal to turn Gary Chicago International Airport into Chicago's third major airport received a boost in early 2006 with the approval of $48 million in federal funding over the next ten years.[129]
The Terre Haute International Airport has no airlines operating out of the facility but is used for private flying. Since 1954, the 181st Fighter Wing of the Indiana Air National Guard has been stationed at the airport. However, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Proposal of 2005 stated that the 181st would lose its fighter mission and F-16 aircraft, leaving the Terre Haute facility as a general-aviation only facility.
The southern part of the state is also served by the Louisville International Airport across the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky. The southeastern part of the state is served by the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport also across the Ohio River in Florence, Kentucky. Most residents Northwest Indiana, which is primarily in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, use the two Chicago airports, O'Hare International Airport and Chicago Midway International Airport.
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In March 2011, Indiana ranked as a bottom-six "Worst" state in the American State Litter Scorecard. The Hoosier State suffers from poor effectiveness and quality of its overall statewide public space cleanliness (primarily from roadway and adjacent litter/debris)--due to state and related eradication standards and performance indicators.[130]
The major U.S. Interstate highways in Indiana are I-64, I-164, I-65, I-265, I-465, I-865, I-69, I-469, I-70, I-74, I-80, I-90, I-94 and I-275. The various highways intersecting in and around Indianapolis, along with its historical status as a major railroad hub, and the canals that once crossed Indiana, are the source of the state's motto, the Crossroads of America. There are also many state highways maintained by the Indiana Department of Transportation. These are numbered according to the same convention as U.S. Highways. Indiana allows highways of different classifications to have the same number. For example, Interstate 64 and State Road 64 both exist (rather close to each other) in Indiana, but are two distinct roads with no relation to one another.
Most Indiana counties use a grid-based system to identify county roads; this system replaced the older arbitrary system of road numbers and names, and (among other things) makes it much easier to identify the sources of calls placed to the 9-1-1 system. Such systems are easier to implement in the glacially flattened northern and central portions of the state. Rural counties in the southern third of the state are less likely to have grids and more likely to rely on unsystematic road names (e.g., Crawford, Harrison, Perry, Scott, and Washington Counties); there are also counties in the northern portions of the state that have never implemented a grid, or have only partially implemented one. Some counties are also laid out in an almost diamond-like grid system (e.g. Clark, Floyd, Gibson, and Knox Counties). Such a system is also almost useless in those situations as well. Knox County once operated two different grid systems for county roads because the county was laid out using two different survey grids, but has since decided to use road names and combine roads instead.
Notably, the county road grid system of St. Joseph County, whose major city is South Bend, uses perennial (tree) names (i.e. Ash, Hickory, Ironwood, etc.) in alphabetical order for North-South roads and Presidential and other noteworthy names (i.e. Adams, Edison, Lincoln Way, etc.) in alphabetical order for East-West roads. There are exceptions to this rule in downtown South Bend and Mishawaka. Hamilton county just continues the numbered street system from Downtown Indianapolis from 96th Street at the Marion County line to 296th street at the Tipton County line.
Indiana has over 4,255 railroad route miles, of which 91 percent are operated by Class I railroads, principally CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway. Other Class I railroads in Indiana include the Canadian National Railway and Soo Line Railroad, a Canadian Pacific Railway subsidiary, as well as Amtrak. The remaining miles are operated by 37 regional, local, and switching & terminal railroads. The South Shore Line is one of the country's most notable commuter rail systems extending from Chicago to South Bend. Indiana is currently implementing an extensive rail plan that was prepared in 2002 by the Parsons Corporation.[131] Many recreational trails, such as the Monon Trail in Indianapolis, have been created from abandoned rails routes.
Indiana annually ships over 70 million tons of cargo by water each year, which ranks 14th among all U.S. states. More than half of Indiana's border is water, which includes 400 miles (640 km) of direct access to two major freight transportation arteries: the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway (via Lake Michigan) and the Inland Waterway System (via the Ohio River). The Ports of Indiana manages three major ports which include Burns Harbor, Jeffersonville, and Mount Vernon.[132] In Evansville three public and several private port facilities receive year-round service from five major barge lines operating on the Ohio River. Evansville has been a U.S. Customs Port of Entry for more than 125 years. Because of this, it is possible to have international cargo shipped to Evansville in bond. The international cargo can then clear Customs in Evansville rather than a coastal port.
Indiana's 1816 constitution was the first in the country to implement a state-funded public school system. It also allotted one township for a public university.[133] However, the plan turned out to be far too idealistic for a pioneer society, as tax money was not accessible for its organization. In the 1840s, Caleb Mills pressed the need for tax-supported schools, and in 1851 his advice was included in the new state constitution. Although the growth of the public school system was held up by legal entanglements, many public elementary schools were in use by 1870. Most children in Indiana attend public schools, but nearly 10% attend private schools and parochial schools. About one-half of all college students in Indiana are enrolled in state-supported four-year schools. The largest institution is Indiana University, the flagship campus of which was endorsed as Indiana Seminary in 1820. Indiana State University was established as the state's Normal School in 1865; Purdue University was chartered as a land-grant college in 1869. The three other independent state universities are Vincennes University (1802), Ball State University (1918) and University of Southern Indiana (1965). Many of the private colleges and universities in Indiana are affiliated with religious groups. The University of Notre Dame and the University of Saint Francis are popular Roman Catholic schools. Universities affiliated with Protestant denominations include Anderson University, Butler University, Taylor University, DePauw University, Earlham College, Valparaiso University,[93] and University of Evansville.[134]
Taylor University has been ranked first in the guide's America’s Best Colleges among 109 Midwest Regional Colleges for five years in a row.[135] Additionally, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology has been rated the best undergraduate engineering program by the magazine since the year 2000.[136][137]
Ivy Tech Community College is the nation's largest state-wide community college with single accreditation. It is the state's largest public post-secondary institution serving nearly 200,000 students a year.
Indiana has an extensive history with auto racing. Indianapolis hosts the Indianapolis 500 mile race over Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway every May. The name of the race is usually shortened to "Indy 500" and also goes by the nickname "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing." The race attracts over 250,000 people every year making it the largest single day sporting event in the world. The track also hosts the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (NASCAR) and the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix (MotoGP). From 2000 to 2007, it hosted the United States Grand Prix (Formula One). Indiana is also host to two major unlimited hydroplane racing power boat race circuits in the major H1 Unlimited league: Thunder on the Ohio (Evansville, Indiana) and the Madison Regatta (Madison, Indiana).
Indiana has a rich basketball heritage that reaches back to the formative years of the sport itself. The Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) play their home games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse; they began play in 1967 in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and joined the NBA when the leagues merged in 1976. Although James Naismith developed basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891, Indiana is where high school basketball was born. In 1925, Naismith visited an Indiana basketball state finals game along with 15,000 screaming fans and later wrote "Basketball really had its origin in Indiana, which remains the center of the sport." The 1986 film Hoosiers is inspired by the story of the 1954 Indiana state champions Milan High School.
Indianapolis is home to the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference. The Colts have roots back to 1913 as the Dayton Triangles. They became an official team after moving to Baltimore, MD, in 1953. In 1984, the Colts relocated to Indianapolis, leading to an eventual rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens. After calling the RCA Dome home for 25 years, the Colts currently play their home games at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. While in Baltimore, the Colts won the 1970 Super Bowl. In Indianapolis, the Colts won Super Bowl XLI, bringing the franchise total to two. In recent years the Colts have regularly competed in the NFL playoffs.
| Facility | Seating Capacity | City |
|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis Motor Speedway | 500,000 | Speedway, Indiana |
| Notre Dame Stadium | 80,795 | South Bend, Indiana |
| Lucas Oil Stadium | 63,000 | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Ross-Ade Stadium | 62,500 | West Lafayette, Indiana |
| Memorial Stadium | 52,929 | Bloomington, Indiana |
| Scheumann Stadium | 25,400 | Muncie, Indiana |
| Bankers Life Fieldhouse | 18,165 | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Assembly Hall | 17,456 | Bloomington, Indiana |
| Mackey Arena | 14,123 | West Lafayette, Indiana |
| Allen County War Memorial Coliseum | 13,000 | Fort Wayne, Indiana |
| Memorial Stadium | 12,764 | Terre Haute, Indiana |
| Victory Field | 12,496 | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| John E. Worthen Arena | 11,500 | Muncie, Indiana |
| Hulman Center | 10,200 | Terre Haute, Indiana |
| Ford Center | 10,000 | Evansville, Indiana |
| Hinkle Fieldhouse | 10,000 | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Edmund P. Joyce Center | 9,800 | South Bend, Indiana |
| Anderson Wigwam | 8,996 | Anderson, Indiana |
| Parkview Field | 8,100 | Fort Wayne, Indiana |
| U.S. Steel Yard | 6,000 | Gary, Indiana |
| Indiana State College Arena | 5,500 | Terre Haute, Indiana |
| Bosse Field | 5,181 | Evansville, Indiana |
| Compton Family Center | 5,000 | South Bend, Indiana |
| Coveleski Stadium | 5,000 | South Bend, Indiana |
| Club | Sport | League |
|---|---|---|
| Elkhart Express | Basketball | International Basketball League |
| Evansville Crush | Indoor Soccer | Premier Arena Soccer League |
| Evansville Enforcers | Football | Great Midwest Football League |
| Evansville IceMen | Ice hockey | Central Hockey League |
| Evansville Otters | Baseball | Frontier League |
| FC Indiana | Soccer | Women's Premier Soccer League |
| Fort Wayne Fever | Soccer | USL Premier Development League |
| Fort Wayne Flash | Football | Women's Football Alliance |
| Indianapolis Enforcers | Indoor Football | Continental Indoor Football League |
| Fort Wayne Komets | Ice hockey | Central Hockey League |
| Fort Wayne Mad Ants | Basketball | NBA Development League |
| Fort Wayne Pistons (now Detroit Pistons) | Basketball | National Basketball Association |
| Fort Wayne TinCaps | Baseball | Midwest League |
| Gary SouthShore RailCats | Baseball | American Association |
| Gary Steelheads | Basketball | International Basketball League |
| Chi-Town Shooters | Ice hockey | All American Hockey League |
| Indiana Fever | Basketball | Women's National Basketball Association |
| Indiana Ice | Ice hockey | United States Hockey League |
| Indiana Pacers | Basketball | National Basketball Association |
| Indiana Invaders | Soccer | USL Premier Development League |
| Indiana Speed | Football | Women's Professional Football League |
| Indianapolis Colts | Football | National Football League |
| Indianapolis Indians | Baseball | International League |
| South Bend Blue Sox | Baseball | All-American Girls Professional Baseball League |
| South Bend Silver Hawks | Baseball | Midwest League |
Indiana has had great sports success at the collegiate level. Notably, Indiana University has won five NCAA basketball championships, six swimming and diving NCAA championships, and seven NCAA soccer championships and Notre Dame has been awarded 11 football championships. Schools fielding NCAA Division I athletic programs include:
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| Preceded by Louisiana |
List of U.S. states by date of statehood Admitted on December 11, 1816 (19th) |
Succeeded by Mississippi |
Coordinates: 40°N 86°W / 40°N 86°W
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Français (French)
n. - Indiana
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n. - Indiana
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n. - Indiana
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
印第安那州
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 印第安那州
한국어 (Korean)
인디애나 (미국 중서부의 주; 주도 Indianapolis; (약) Ind.; 속칭 Hoosier State)
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n. - אינדיאנה
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